The White House has justannouncedthat it will be relaxing some of its strict regularization on marijuana enquiry , making it easy for scientists to carry on clinical subject on the drug . This could not have come at a better time , it seems , as a comprehensive inspection of 40 years of human trials that examined its likely use in treat a miscellany of ailments has suggested that high - tone evidence underpin its therapeutic utilisation is lacking .
Interest in the exercise of marijuana in the discussion of various medical condition has develop over the last few ten , with legion clinical trials suggesting that it could do as a useful addition to the arsenal of therapies already useable for some wellness problems , including pain , chemotherapy - induce nausea and appetite red . Although marijuana has not beenFDA - approvedas an good treatment for anything , the federal agency has considered the available evidence and instead approve synthetical versions of an participating compound , or cannabinoid , found in the plant .
More than 20 states have now legalized the use of medical marihuana for a range of experimental condition , and a further seven are still considering legislation . With its increasing popularity , now is the time to critically measure its effectiveness in clinical configurations , which is precisely what a squad of researchers from the University of Bristol recently set out to do .
As describe in the journalJAMA , the team set out to survey the benefits of cannabinoids in the treatment of various diseases or symptoms . Almost 80 randomized clinical visitation were included in the discipline , which bring out that the majority ground an improvement in symptom with the enjoyment of cannabinoids . While this may go irrefutable , they actually found that most of these associated health improvements were not statistically pregnant .
significantly , many bailiwick were found to be ill design , for exemplar including only a minuscule number of participant or continuing despite a high dropout pace , leading to issues with the reliability of the data . Of those that were considered to be of temperate timber , support was found for the use of cannabinoids in the treatment of continuing pain and spasticity due to multiple sclerosis . But for eternal rest disorders , weight increase in HIV transmission , Tourette ’s syndrome , and nausea due to chemotherapy , studies reporting improvement with cannabinoid use were considered to be of downhearted lineament .
So if the studies are n’t good enough , why is medical marijuana so widely used to treat certain disease ? The FDA in reality requires a lower limit of two randomized clinical trials of enough quality before a drug can be approve for a specific aesculapian condition , but it seems that many cannabis studies have mistake through the net . But as point out by anaccompanying editorial , this arguably speculate difficulties in transmit clinical studies on the drug due to its categorization as a Schedule 1 drug .
The take - home message from this review is therefore not that marijuana has no place in modern medicine , but that there is a clear need for more full-bodied studies into its enjoyment , peculiarly pay the fact that more governments are now contemplating its legalisation as a medicative or unpaid drug .
[ ViaJAMA , JAMAandNew Scientist ]
